Harbor at Saint-Tropez by James Taylor Harwood

James Taylor Harwood (American, 1860–1940)
Harbor at Saint-Tropez, 1931
Watercolor on paper
10½ × 15½ in.
Signed lower right: J. T. Harwood ’31

This sunlit harbor scene presents the old waterfront of Saint-Tropez with a quiet clarity characteristic of Harwood’s mature watercolor work. Pale stone buildings with warm terracotta roofs rise directly from the water’s edge, their softened reflections dissolving into the blue-green harbor. Harwood employs transparent washes and fine textural touches to balance architectural solidity with atmospheric light. The low foreground quay leads the eye inward, while the open sky and gently rippling water convey calm and spaciousness, emphasizing observation and mood over narrative detail.

James Taylor Harwood was an American painter whose career bridged academic European training and the development of art in the American West. Born in Utah, he studied at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he refined his draftsmanship and command of watercolor. Harwood traveled extensively in Europe, producing landscapes that reflect a measured response to place and light. He later became a foundational figure in Utah’s artistic community, respected for his versatility, teaching, and sustained commitment to landscape painting.